Section 541.5.

(a) The department shall not close, or propose to close, a state park in the 2012–13 or 2013–14 fiscal year. The commission and the department shall recommend all necessary steps to establish a sustainable funding strategy for the department to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2015.

(b) There is hereby appropriated twenty million five hundred thousand dollars ($20,500,000) to the department from the State Parks and Recreation Fund, which shall be available for encumbrance for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 fiscal years, to be expended as follows:

(1) Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) shall be available to provide for matching funds pursuant to subdivision (c).

(2) Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) shall be available for the department to direct funds to parks that remain at risk of closure or that will keep parks open during the 2012–13 and 2013–14 fiscal years. Priority may be given to parks subject to a donor or operating agreement or other contractual arrangement with the department.

(3) Up to five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) shall be available for the department to pay for ongoing audits and investigations as directed by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, the office of the Attorney General, the Department of Finance, or other state agency.

(c) The department shall match on a dollar-for-dollar basis all financial contributions contributed by a donor pursuant to an agreement for the 2012–13 fiscal year for which the department received funds as of July 31, 2013, and for agreements entered into in the 2013–14 fiscal year. These matching funds shall be used exclusively in the park unit subject to those agreements.

(d) The department shall notify the Joint Legislative Budget Committee in writing not less than 30 days prior to the expenditure of funds under this section of the funding that shall be expended, the manner of the expenditure, and the recipient of the expenditure.

(e) The prohibition to close, or propose to close, a state park in the 2012–13 or 2013–14 fiscal year, pursuant to paragraph (a), does not limit or affect the department's authority to enter into an operating agreement, pursuant to Section 5080.42, during the 2012–13 or 2013–14 fiscal year, for purposes of the operation of the entirety of a state park during the 2012–13 or 2013–14 fiscal year.

(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 407, Sec. 1. Effective September 28, 2013.)